As is known, most sausage products are presented and marketed in strings of portioned units, in variable quantity, yet all having practically identical weight and size, obtained by introducing the product into a casing made of intestine or another similar product suitable for human consumption, which gives them their characteristic appearance, which can vary in diameter and length depending on the type of product, all of this being prepared with the help of stuffing machines, from which the product emerges stuffed in a continuous casing, subsequently carrying out the twisting of the same in order to separate the different units or portions.
In order to carry out said twisting, a known device, disclosed under Utility Model U200900984, which is owned by the applicant of the present invention, enables said operation to be carried out automatically, since in past practice this operation was carried out by hand in traditional manner.
Utility Model U200900984 discloses a motorized portioning-twisting device for the production of sausages, which is constituted by a portioning element wherein the portioning of the product is carried out, and a twisting element, wherein the portions are stuffed into the intestine casing and twisted, thereby separating and defining the different units, both elements being driven by the same single reducer motor with which the machine is equipped.
The object of the present invention is therefore to develop an improved machine of the same type, since the present device has a number of limitations and aspects capable of being improved, particularly due, on the one hand, to the said aforementioned existence of a single motor for the operation of both portioning and twisting elements and, on the other hand, due to the relative arrangement thereof, and which determines a right-angled path of the product in order to pass from the intake conduit located on the side of the machine body, up to the rotation head located at the top.
Particularly, the main limitation of the existence of a single motor for moving both elements is given by the fact that it prevents carrying out independent control between the rotation of the piston which determines introduction of the product in each portion, and the rotation of the head which determines the twisting of the portions, since they always rotate at the same time. But, in particular, this simultaneous rotation prevents adjusting the number of revolutions of the shaft of the twisting head, since its rotation can only be modified by means of gears. It is also impossible to implement an offset or waiting time between the forming of the portion and the twisting action, so the length of the portions is also very limited to the size of the elements involved.
Another problem posed by said angular arrangement is the complexity of maintenance and cleaning operations, in addition to being liable to present major operating problems if the product is not sufficiently minced, which also limits the use of the device in certain types of sausages, for examples country sausages or others which contain larger-sized pieces of meat, making it only suitable for Frankfurt-type sausages.
On the other hand, and as a reference to the current state of the art, it should be noted that, as far as the applicant is concerned, they are not aware of the existence of any other machine or invention with a similar application, having the same or similar technical or structural characteristics to those claimed herein.